tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post6743962085622970989..comments2024-03-27T14:57:37.031+05:30Comments on Jabberwock: On Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India, and other books about cultural heritageJabberwockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-55520120657277129062016-09-29T16:33:41.937+05:302016-09-29T16:33:41.937+05:30Really Nice Blog thanks for sharing:
We Published...Really Nice Blog thanks for sharing: <br />We Published One Grate Book for Men and Dreams in the Dhauladhar.by Indian Authors - Kochery C Shibu.<br /><br /><a href="http://menanddreamsinthedhauladhar.com" rel="nofollow">http://menanddreamsinthedhauladhar.com</a> <br /><a href="http://menanddreamsinthedhauladhar.com" rel="nofollow">Indian Writing in English</a> <br /><a href="http://menanddreamsinthedhauladhar.com" rel="nofollow">Novels by indian authors</a> <br /><a href="http://menanddreamsinthedhauladhar.com" rel="nofollow">Best english novels by indian writers</a> menanddreamsinthedhauladharhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06586216788653778621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-69170613507666176052016-08-20T10:54:14.053+05:302016-08-20T10:54:14.053+05:30"And your comments in the past too have shown..."And your comments in the past too have shown that you are peculiarly unable or unwilling to be empathetic towards the woman's perspective when it comes these matters"<br /><br />I am. All I am saying is this world of ours is not ideal. If men were to be stripped of their sexual desire, the world will go extinct in a few decades. It just takes one generation of sexual abstinence to end the human race you know!<br /><br />We are all born in a state of "original sin". Man is imperfect. Yes, we try to overcome these failings to the extent possible. The rule of law, custom, peer pressure, religion, among other things all conspire to civilise us. But this process of civilisation is never complete nor is it desirable! The sustenance of the human race requires us to retain a bit of beastliness in us. That's life.shrikanthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03898755392584822638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-26681406568798755782016-08-20T10:47:56.187+05:302016-08-20T10:47:56.187+05:30Jai: My comment was not as much directed at you, b...Jai: My comment was not as much directed at you, but at the author. Especially the bits about the booklets on Stri Dharma selling copies. <br /><br />People aren't stupid. This is a free country. They know what to take and what to discard. The latest Olympic medalist is a girl from a state known for its Khap Panchayats. Indicative of how India is changing. It is changing by the day. Changing by the hour. This isn't a country that has regressed, the way Iran has over the past 30 years. It's getting better by the day. And it's important to acknowledge that.shrikanthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03898755392584822638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-12129520636887597512016-08-19T13:41:27.171+05:302016-08-19T13:41:27.171+05:30The line you take is a peculiarly Wahabbi line...
...<i>The line you take is a peculiarly Wahabbi line...</i><br /><br />Had to laugh out at this, Shrikanth. I'm a guy too, and I know what it's like to be stirred by such images (I have a surprisingly vivid memory of reading that comic at age 7 or 8 and noticing Subhadra's bare legs) - and I agree completely that it's a very slippery slope if one tries to argue that men who are merely <i>looking</i> at women they find attractive or sexy are doing something unacceptable or worthy of prosecution. But there are two sides to every story: in this case, the fact that images that are perpetuated and recycled repeatedly - the newspaper illustration of the "shamed" rape victim covering her face comes to mind - do tend to reaffirm and harden people's thinking about a subject (I don't think people are as smart as <i>you</i> seem to think, by the way!). And your comments in the past too have shown that you are peculiarly unable or unwilling to be empathetic towards the woman's perspective when it comes these matters. <br /><br />At any rate, again, my description of Chandra's book was as straightforward as possible. You're making it sound like when I wrote the sentence "the dominant male gaze is pandered to in such scenes...", I had really written "These comics are drawn by evil men whose only purpose is to oppress women!" Suggest you bring a little more nuance to your reading.Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-72629699706242173262016-08-19T13:28:49.024+05:302016-08-19T13:28:49.024+05:30Gaurav (and, by extension, Shrikanth): I just rere...Gaurav (and, by extension, Shrikanth): I just reread the two paragraphs I have written here about Mukul's book, and I don't agree that there is "much condescension" in my comments. (Obviously I'm biased when I make that judgement call - but so, in your own ways, are you.) Gaurav, that sentence you quoted - how does it in any way preclude the possibility that Gita Press has also highlighted the good aspects of Hinduism?<br /><br />And Shrikanth, you know full well - or should know after all these years - that I'm not the stereotype of the rigid left-liberal who would unconditionally denounce such ideas as the Male Gaze; if anything, I have spent dozens of pages in my new book defending charges of "regressiveness" and "misogyny" that too often get directed at popular filmmakers. Anyway, I'm not getting into a prolonged argument about that here - don't have either the time or the mental space for comments discussions these days. Some other time maybe...Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-87644556989156848402016-08-19T12:01:00.839+05:302016-08-19T12:01:00.839+05:30Jay, much condescension in your comments about Git...Jay, much condescension in your comments about Gita Press.<br />Extremely turned off by your line - "Gita Press has for decades propagated an idea of India that is based on Hindu supremacy and a rigid interpretation of sanatan dharma." <br />They talk about the good aspects of Hinduism, which are plenty, and sadly which few other elite English publishers do. Gaurav Hhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06287081493809886070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-32816177799827213162016-08-15T16:46:47.527+05:302016-08-15T16:46:47.527+05:30"Though first published in 1926, it is still ..."Though first published in 1926, it is still in print, having sold over a million copies, and continues to provide “moral guidance” to generations of people – women and men – who haven’t had the benefits of modern education"<br /><br />Again this reeks of condescension. With the assumption being that common people cannot think for themselves and cannot read books with a historical perspective.<br /><br />The Bible sells millions of copies too all over the world. So do the works of Plato, Aristotle, Tacitus, Augustine, Plutarch, Heredotus, Cicero among others. None of these books can claim to be in conformity with "modern" notions of what's appropriate and what's inappropriate. That doesn't stop western audiences, who care for their culture, from reading these great men. Sure Aristotle was a reactionary. Sure, many of his ideas make jarring reading today. But he was nonetheless a great man, a genius. People know what to digest and what not to digest.<br /><br />People are smart, you know. They are smarter than you think.shrikanthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03898755392584822638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-50316628719399213232016-08-15T16:39:38.298+05:302016-08-15T16:39:38.298+05:30"the dominant male gaze is pandered to in suc..."the dominant male gaze is pandered to in such scenes as the one where Arjuna abducts Subhadra and her skirt is shown rising up to reveal her legs"<br /><br />This is a most ridiculous line. The whole world panders to what you call "male gaze". Male gaze is not a cultural consequence, but a biological reality caused by the testosterone levels in you. When a Raj Kapoor or a Luis Bunuel or a Martin Scorsese or a Paul Thomas Anderson show skin in their movies, the motivator is of course the male gaze! They do it because they want the males in their audiences to have some fun. Men are the same everywhere.<br /><br />A denial of that is the worst form of sexual repression. The line you take is a peculiarly Wahabbi line - to deny agency to men by telling them what they should and shouldn't see with their eyes. It's precisely the attitude that gave rise to Hijab or Purdah in the Islamic and later medieval Hindu traditions.<br /><br />It's interesting that while one is OK with the ample institutionalised skin show that happens all over the world from Southern California to Tokyo, it becomes a bit of a problem when ACK comics do the same. Heights of Hinduphobia.shrikanthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03898755392584822638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-55465094980293774072016-08-15T03:15:02.322+05:302016-08-15T03:15:02.322+05:30To portray Gita Press as a purveyor of religious f...To portray Gita Press as a purveyor of religious fundamentalism is an exercise in dishonesty. <br /><br />The Gita Press fills a vacuum that exists in Indian publishing space. It has taken a lead in publishing much of Hindu religious literature - which is largely ignored by more famous publishers. Has Rupa published the commentaries of Adi Sankara? Has Penguin published an unabridged version of the two epics? Do we have a major publisher who has published the much unheralded religious literature of the South - the works of poet saints Azhwars and Nayanars, in unabridged editions? Has Rupa published the commentaries of Manavala Mamunigal? Or those of Appiah Dikshitar? Do we get to see Kamba Ramayanam in our chic bookstores? Or for that matter, Tulsi's Ramcharitmanas? Or the great Tantric texts? Or Abhinavagupta's Shaivite texts?<br /><br />The mainstream English press considers Hinduism to be anathema. But hey...the people want to read Hindu texts. And Gita Press fills that vacuum. Yes, it may also peddle in some propagandist political literature. But it publishes a lot of good stuff too, ignored by other banners.shrikanthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03898755392584822638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-39414367547633142282016-08-02T13:57:42.784+05:302016-08-02T13:57:42.784+05:30Interesting Post... Well written...Interesting Post... Well written...Raj Gaurav Debnathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16442209497580579909noreply@blogger.com